Sri Lanka's main opposition party was Monday drawn into a power struggle with its deputy leader announcing his decision to fight the incumbent leader for the top position in the party.

United National Party (UNP) deputy leader Karu Jayasuriya in a statement said he was contesting the leadership against opposition leader in Parliament Ranil Wickremesinghe to save and unite the party.

Wickremesinghe, a former prime minister who has lost seven of the eight parliamentary and presidential elections since 1994, has been under pressure from his own party members to step down, but he has rejected the calls.

As many as 61 UNP members of parliament have crossed over to the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa in recent years mostly due to differences with Wickremesinghe.

Wickremesinghe took over the party leadership in 1993 after the then president Ranasinghe Premadasa was killed in a Tamil rebel suicide attack.

The UNP has ruled the country for 28 years since independence from Britain in 1948.

The party has been criticized by its own supporters for failing to put up strong opposition to Rajapaksa's government, which is close to a two-thirds majority in the 225-seat parliament.

Wickremesinghe is scheduled to seek re-election as party leader at the Working Committee meeting on Wednesday.

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